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18-605: Helgrindur (also known as Lýsuskarð, Lysuhóll or Lysukard) is a volcanic mountain range or massif in the middle of the Snæfellsnes peninsula that provides a backdrop to the port of Grundarfjörður . The volcano can be regarded as potentially active, with a risk of lava flows and much more rarely explosive tephra eruptions. The range with its prominent peaks, of Tröllkerling at 891 m (2,923 ft) in its south-east, Böðvarskúla at 988 m (3,241 ft) and Kaldnasaborgir (Kaldnasi) in its north-west at 986 m (3,235 ft)

36-428: A power of 300 kilowatts in the 1997. In 2023 RÚV announced the retirement of all its longwave transmissions by 2024, citing its inadequacy as a backup service as most vehicles and radios do not support longwave broadcasts anymore. The Hellissandur transmitter went off the air on 5 September 2024 and on 17 October it was officially announced as closed. This article about an Icelandic building or structure

54-547: Is an edible plant only found in Iceland on the western aspects of the peninsula. Along the southern coast are many relatively undisturbed wetland habitats with diversity in the plants present. There are 13 species of wading birds found in Snæfellsnes and many other aquatic birds. Breiðafjörður is an important marine ecosystem with its seaweed and kelp forests and the largest seal and maritime bird populations in Iceland. Seal hunting

72-413: Is popular with hikers or mountaineers. The 2–3 km (1.2–1.9 mi) wide range, is in the middle of the Snæfellsnes peninsula and thus divides the northern large bay of Breiðafjörður from the southern bay of Faxaflói . Reykjavík is about 105 km (65 mi) to the range's south across Faxaflói. The weather systems in the two large bays are often quite different and the stormy winds across

90-552: Is situated at Gufuskálar [ˈkʏːvʏˌskauːlar̥] , near Hellissandur on the Snæfellsnes peninsula of West Iceland. It is currently the tallest longwave radio mast in the world and the tallest above ground structure in Western Europe . It formed part of RÚV's longwave service. It was intended to fill in gaps of the FM radio, serve seafarers and as a critical communications facility. It previously operated in parallel with

108-605: Is the highest mountain on the peninsula and has a glacier at its peak ( jökull means "glacier" in Icelandic ). The volcano can be seen on clear days from Reykjavík , a distance of about 120 km (75 mi). The mountain is also known as the setting of the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by the French author Jules Verne . The area surrounding Snæfellsjökull has been designated one of

126-697: The North Atlantic LORAN-C chain (GRD 7970). A second, smaller, 30 m (98 ft) tall tower was installed by the US Coast Guard in the autumn of 1961 as part of a LORAN-A network paired with Greenland. The LORAN-C scheme closed in 1994. In 1991, the original RÚV 1930 longwave transmitter tower at Vatnsendi (near Reykjavík) collapsed. As the Hellissandur mast was free for use, it was converted for use by RÚV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service) for its longwave transmissions on 189 kHz at

144-432: The 1970s after being a protected species from 1913 and other birds of prey are found. Short-eared owls , a protected bird in Iceland, are common in areas of the Snæfellsnes. Up to settlement only the arctic fox was present as top carnivore but now as elsewhere in Iceland there are many other introduced mammals that affect the ecosystem. The arctic fox is generally separated into highland and low land populations with

162-470: The Helgrindur volcanic system. The rocks tend to be alkaline hyaloclastite basalt or picrite basalt , however a central rhyolite formation is known. In total length there is a 30 km (19 mi) fissure swarm that extends from the south-east into the sea at its north-west. The most recent two eruptions were basaltic and must have occurred more than 1100 years ago. They are in the mid south portion of

180-539: The Snæfellsnes peninsula include Arnarstapi , Hellnar , Rif [ˈrɪːf] , Ólafsvík , Grundarfjörður and Stykkishólmur . Near Hellissandur is the tallest structure in western Europe , the Longwave Radio Mast at Hellissandur . In June 2008, the people of Snæfellsnes reached certification status as an EarthCheck community, becoming the first EarthCheck-certified area in Iceland and in Europe, and only

198-662: The four national parks by the government of Iceland. It is also the home of the Ingjaldsholl church, a Protestant church. The peninsula is one of the main settings in the Laxdœla saga and it was, according to this saga, the birthplace of the first West Norse member of the Varangian Guard , Bolli Bollasson . Other historical people who lived in the area according to the saga include Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir , Bolli Þorleiksson and Snorri Goði . Local fishing villages and small towns on

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216-531: The fourth in the world. Snæfellsnes has been committed to the EarthCheck programme since 2003 and has been successfully benchmarked for the past five consecutive years. On the peninsula 323 species of flowering plants and ferns have been identified and generally the plant ecology is typical of the Iceland boreal birch forests and alpine tundra ecosystem. Ligusticum scoticum (Scots lovage, Scottish licorice-root)

234-534: The later having a reddish brown coat all year. Within the Snæfellsjökull National Park fox hunting has been banned since 2001. The American mink colonised the peninsula early after its escape into the wild in Iceland in 1932 and since then the Icelandic population peaked about 2003 without any evidence that human hunting is the reason for the recent decline in population. While there are four rodents in

252-410: The less powerful Eiðar longwave transmitter to form nationwide longwave coverage, but Eiðar was demolished in 2023. The mast, which is among the tallest structures in Western Europe , is insulated against the ground, and guyed at five levels by steel ropes, which are subdivided by insulators . It was built in 1963 to replace the 190.5 m (625 ft) tall LORAN-C mast, constructed in 1959 for

270-452: The range are quite notorious and can be heard sometimes at sea level. The range is part of the Snæfellsnes volcanic belt that extends from the prominent stratovolcano Snæfellsjökull and its volcanic system, to the Helgrindur volcanic system and then on via Vatnafell, a tuya , to the Ljósufjöll volcanic system in an east to west lineament. It is not currently known if Vatnafell is part of

288-506: The volcanic system. The oldest rock from the system itself are 1.4 million years old, and have been emplaced over a 10 to 7 million year old extinct rift zone basaltic basement. Sn%C3%A6fellsnes The peninsula has a volcanic origin having the Snæfellsnes volcanic belt down its centre, and the Snæfellsjökull volcano , regarded as one of the symbols of Iceland, at its western tip. With its height of 1,446 m (4,744 ft), it

306-554: The wild in Iceland, only the wood mouse is found in large numbers on Snæfellsnes. 64°51′29″N 23°06′54″W  /  64.85806°N 23.11500°W  / 64.85806; -23.11500 Longwave radio mast Hellissandur The Hellissandur longwave radio mast ( Icelandic : Langbylgjustöðin á Gufuskálum [ˈlauŋkˌpɪlcʏˌstœːðɪn auː ˈkʏːvʏˌskauːlʏm] ) is a 412 m (1,352 ft) tall guyed radio mast formerly used for longwave radio transmissions of RÚV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service). It

324-456: Was banned in Iceland in 2019, after a major reduction in numbers after 1980. Killer whale pods are often found off the western part of the peninsula and many other whales can be seen, noting that some whaling has been allowed by Iceland since 2003. Over 60 species of birds nest in Snæfellsnes. Puffins tend to be found on the western peninsula and are not present in winter. White-tailed eagle populations in Iceland only started recovering in

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